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ObamaCare's 7 Tax Hikes On Under $250,000-A-Year Earners

President Barack Obama's signature on the health insurance reform bill at the White House, March 23, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By ruling that ObamaCare is constitutional, the Supreme Court has set in motion a slew of tax hikes. Well, someone has to pay for it. For rich folks, looming big is the 3.8% Medicare surtax on investment income, and the 0.9% Medicare payroll tax hike (from 1.45% to 2.35%). And then there are the tax hikes for everybody else.

Obama’s pledge against any form of tax increase on Americans making less than $250,000 a year “was thrown out the window” when he signed the healthcare law, says John Kartch, communications director with Americans For Tax Reform (founded by anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist).

Here’s a rundown of seven ObamaCare tax hikes that affect the hoi polloi.

No. 1. The Individual Mandate Excise Tax. Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance must pay an income tax surtax. It goes up each year until 2016 and beyond when a couple would pay a tax of the higher of $1,360 or 2.5% of adjusted gross income.

No. 2. The Over-The-Counter Drugs Trap. Since Jan. 1, 2011, employees with health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts or health reimbursement accounts have no longer been able to use pre-tax funds stashed in these accounts to buy over-the-counter medicines for allergy relief and the like without a doctor’s prescription (there’s an exception for insulin).

No. 3. The Healthcare Flexible Spending Account Cap. Starting Jan. 1, 2013, employees will face a $2,500 cap on the amount of pre-tax salary deferrals they can make into a healthcare flexible spending account. There is no cap under current law. In light of the new cap, employee benefits groups are lobbying for Congress to modify the use-it-or-lose-it rule that means employees forfeit unused funds in their accounts at the end of the plan year.

No. 4. The Medical Itemized Deduction Hurdle. Starting Jan. 1, 2013, taxpayers who face high medical expenses will only be allowed a deduction for expenses to the extent they exceed 10% of adjusted gross income, up from 7.5% now. Taxpayers 65 and older can still use the old 7.5% threshold through 2016. For how to score the medical expense deduction before 2013, click here.

No. 7. The Cadillac Health Insurance Plan Tax. Starting in 2018, there will be a new 40% excise tax on taxpayers who are covered by high-cost health insurance plans (with premiums at or above $10,200 for a single or $27,500 for a family). Insurers or employers who are self-insured will pay the tax, but it is expected to trickle down to mean higher costs for consumers.

Americans For Tax Reform has a full list of ObamaCare’s 20 new or higher taxes on American families and small businesses.

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What an asinine thing to post. Because the tanning tax is the main reason conservatives attacked Obamacare, amiright? And not the fact that a mandate (even if disguised as a “tax” – which Democrats STILL insist it’s not despite the ruling yesterday!) is a clear violation of the original meaning (the only intellectually honest way to interpret any law) of the Constitution and the clear intent of the Founders and their plan for limited government. Nor the fact that Obamacare is, according to the Progressives themselves, just a stepping stone to “single payer”, which would be a VERY socialist program. So shove off with your idiotic straw man attacks.

Romney care in Mass is mandated and has a tax penalty; just like Ocare. So what are the main diffs between the 2 other than one is for a State and the other is for the nation. Rom says it worked great in Mass; why won’t it work great in the U.S.?